Finland and Czech Republic Tie it on

By Chris McCluskey

December 31st, 2002

He was the top goaltender in this tournament last yearand he’s making a strong case to cement himself as arepeat recipient of the award in 2003 as the Czechscan rightly say they were robbed tonight by phenomKari Lehtonen, who was Finns’ savior in a 2-2 tie atthe Halifax Metro Centre tonight. Team Finland had nobusiness coming away with a point as the CzechRepublic gave everything they had and Finlandstruggled to muster anything throughout the game.

The Czechs maintained great pressure throughout thematch, throwing everything they had at the 19 year oldAtlanta Thrashers goaltending prospect but could onlyfind the twine twice. Lehtonen made difficult stopslook routine including a save off of a quick Jan Holubshot from the top of the right circle and stoning anunwatched Petr Taticek who had all the time in theworld to bury it but couldn’t put it past the Finnishnetminder. The Czechs finally got one past Lehtonenat 19:25 but unfortunately Jiri Hudler rang it offboth posts with a sweeping backhand and it remainedscoreless after one.

It was the Finns who got on the board first threeminutes into the second when the puck seemed to bejammed against Holub’s skate in front of Czech net.But Matti Aho banged it loose and beat a screenedMartin Falter who, although only facing 17 shots, madea lot of remarkable saves at the other end of the ice. Team Czech Republic would reply midway through theperiod when Jiri Hudler, who is definitely one of themost noticeable players in the tournament, finallybeat Lehtonen on a one-on-one by blasting a howitzerfrom the top circle over the glove side shoulder ofthe Finn goaltender to make the score one aside. Thescore remained that way through two periods withLehtonen’s significance to his team verified in shotswith the Czech Republic far ahead by a count of 26-11.

A scary moment for the Czechs early in the thirdhappened when their own star goaltender Martin Falterseemed to be grimacing on the ice after making aseries of difficult saves. He left the ice under hisown strength and immediately had a towel wrappedaround his neck, but he would return. Ottawa 67sstarter Lukas Mensator took to the crease for aboutseven minutes and faced two shots but one of themmanaged to get by the goaltender who, to his credit,came in cold. Tomi Maki beat Mensator with a snapperto put the Finns up 2-1. Falter came back in at 12:03to finish the game but due to the outstanding play ofLehtonen it looked like the damage was done.

Thehighest European goaltender ever drafted in the NHLturned aside everything coming his way including agreat shoulder save off of Tomas Fleischmann and astop on Hudler who accepted a pass from his defencivezone at the Finn blue line and came in all alone. Itlooked like the Finns would come away a miraculous twopoints but the Czechs’ desperation and determinationfinally paid off as 2003 draft prospect Milan Michalekbroke out of his scoring slump, spinning and sliding aJiri Hudler rebound past Lehtonen who had no chanceand the score was tied up at two.

It would remain that way for the rest of the game asthe Finns killed off the remaining four minutes. KariLehtonen must have been a unanimous decision forplayer of the game for the Finns who will have to stepit up against the Canadians on New Years Eve for agame that will decide who will get the coveted firstplace position in the standings. Although he has hada very disappointing tournament so far, Milan Michalekreceived player of the game honors for scoring thegame tying goal. The Czechs are back in actionagainst Team Sweden Tuesday afternoon.